Britain is in "direct bilateral communication" with Iran as it tries to win the release of 15 detained sailors and marines, Defense Secretary Des Browne said on Sunday."We are anxious that this matter be resolved as quickly as possible and that it be resolved by diplomatic means and we are bending every single effort to that," Browne told BBC television. "It's not my intention to go through the detail of that blow by blow, and it wouldn't be appropriate to do that, but we are in direct bilateral communication with the Iranians," he said. Iranian protesters had earlier hurled stones and firecrackers at Britain's embassy in Tehran in a worsening crisis over 15 British naval personnel captured on March 23... http://abcnews.go.com

Iraqi figures estimate civilian deaths in violence across the country rose by 13% last month, despite the security crackdown in Baghdad. Data compiled by several ministries put civilian deaths in March at 1,861 - compared with 1,645 for February. A BBC correspondent in Baghdad says insurgents seem to have shifted their focus outside the capital to avoid recently introduced security measures. US diplomats say violence in the Iraqi capital has fallen by 25%. In the latest violence to be reported on Sunday, two truck bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, injuring 15 people, Reuters news agency said. The six-week old security push seeks to significantly reduce sectarian violence in Baghdad, which is seen as crucial to stabilising Iraq as a whole. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6516155.stm

At least 25 bombers being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen over Europe during World War II were shot down by enemy aircraft, according to a new Air Force report.The report contradicts the legend that the famed black aviators never lost a plane to fire from enemy aircraft. But historian William Holton said the discovery of lost bombers doesn't tarnish the unit's record."It's impossible not to lose bombers," said Holton, national historian for Tuskegee Airmen Inc.The report released Wednesday was based on after-mission reports filed by both the bomber units and Tuskegee fighter groups, as well as missing air crew records and witness testimony, said Daniel Haulman, a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.The tally includes only cases where planes were shot down by enemy aircraft, Haulman said. No one disputed the airmen lost some planes to anti-aircraft guns and other fire from the ground....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263092,00.html

Russia has banned all foreigners from working as retailers in its shops and markets under a new law which came into force on Sunday. Up to 20,000 non-Russians currently work in Moscow markets alone in a tradition going back to Soviet times. President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the interests of Russian citizens were at stake. Migrant groups have condemned the law, passed after ethnic violence last year, as unfair and unworkable. While foreigners will not be allowed to sell directly they still have the right to work in markets as loaders, cleaners, wholesalers or managers, according to an official from the Russian Federal Migration Service, Vyacheslav Postavnin. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6515293.stm

Iranian students have thrown firecrackers and rocks into the British embassy compound during a protest in the capital Tehran. About 200 people demonstrated against what they say was the illegal entry into Iranian waters of 15 UK Royal Navy personnel captured nine days ago. BBC correspondent Frances Harrison said the students were hardliners who were urging Iran not to compromise. Defence Secretary Des Browne said the two countries were in direct contact. The BBC's correspondent, who was outside the embassy when the missiles were thrown, said the demonstrators were hardline Islamist students from Tehran University. The protesters, whose demonstration was allowed by the Iranian government, were chanting "death to Britain" and calling for the deportation of the British ambassador, she said...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6515995.stm

The United States and Egypt are urging Israel to agree to quickly start talks with a committee of Arab states on how to move the peace process forward, diplomats involved in the matter said on Sunday.While generally welcoming the peace initiative endorsed by Arab leaders at a summit last week in Saudi Arabia, Israel has called several key components problematic and has been noncommittal about how to proceed. In weekend talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other officials, Washington and Cairo proposed that Israel agree to meet "as soon as possible" with a working group approved at the Arab summit to begin negotiating the details of a possible agreement. Several Arab League countries would talk "formally and publicly as a collective" with Israel, a senior diplomat said of the proposal, calling it unprecedented in its potential scope. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2998907